Monday, April 20, 2015

I finally have a list of which Schlumbergera seedlings will probably be available for sale, for anybody who was interested in getting one. My guess is that I'll probably be ready to mail them out in May, though exactly when in May depends on the weather, and I don't control the weather.1My best guess is something like $5-7 for one plant and $12 for 2 (which includes shipping), in mid- to late May, but none of that's nailed down.

April 29 update: prices will be $7 for one pot, $11 for two, and $15 for three. Those prices include shipping. I expect to mail the plants out between May 15 and 31.

The plants I'm mailing out will be two (sometimes) or three (usually) cuttings of the same plant, stuck in a square pot with sides two inches long. All cuttings in a pot will have produced new growth above the soil line.2 This is approximately what you could expect to receive, maybe a little bigger since they'll have been growing for another month:

For the moment, I'm setting a limit of two pots of cuttings per person, to ensure that everybody who wants one can get one. (That limit will be lifted, if it turns out that demand's lower than I'm expecting.) As of 29 April 2015, I will try to honor requests for up to three different seedlings.

U.S. addresses only, alas, since it's a pain to try to ship plants internationally. (Sorry, non-U.S. readers. I would if I could.)

This post is mostly to get feedback about which seedlings people are interested in, so that I can 1) plan who gets which plants, and 2) start more cuttings if a particular seedling turns out to be really popular. For the moment, I have cuttings from 19 different seedlings available, and there may be more than that by July or August. As of April 29, there are twelve seedlings still unclaimed; another eight should be available in July.

What I'm looking for right now is an e-mail3 telling me what plants you're interested in, ideally ranked by first choice, second choice, third choice, etc., so that I know what to substitute if your first choice is not available.4 Get as complicated as you like. You can also just say something like, "I'd like the best orange/white you can give me," "whatever one nobody else is interested in," "any orange/pink except 'Cyborg Unicorn,'" or something along those lines.5 Calling dibs in this way doesn't obligate you to purchase anything. When I'm ready to start mailing plants, I'll try to work out who gets what in a way that makes everybody happy, notify people accordingly, and only then will we start talking about which specific plants in exchange for which specific payments, mailing addresses, and all that.

Photos and brief descriptions of each follow:

008B "Candor"Colors (petals / tube): orange / light pink; dark orange / light pinkBloom Frequency: slow6Comments: Might be the same plant as 008A "Frightened Dog," just producing more shapely blooms. I haven't seen a second bloom from "Frightened Dog," and "Frightened Dog" happened before I started marking the branches to indicate different seedlings.

012A "Sofa Fort"Colors (petals / tube): orange / pinkBloom Frequency: mediumComments: One of my personal favorites; the orange and pink harmonize better on this one than they do on some of the other orange / pinks.

022A "Sad Tomato"
ALL POTS OF 022A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015Colors (petals / tube): red-orange / white; ages to red-orange / light pinkBloom Frequency: mediumComments: The color doesn't do much for me personally, but it blooms well, the blooms last a normal amount of time, and the color is strong, so I think it's objectively a good seedling, just one I'm not especially into.

023A "Stoked"
ALL POTS OF 023A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015; MORE CUTTINGS HAVE BEEN TAKEN AND SHOULD BE READY IN JULYColors (petals / tube): dark orange / whiteBloom Frequency: fastComments: Another of my personal favorites, though sometimes the petals . . . break off? I'm not sure what's going on; I just know that a few times after taking photos, I then notice pieces of petals on the floor or wherever, and they seem to be mainly from "Stoked." Either I'm being unusually rough with it, or it's unusually brittle. All existing pots of cuttings are spoken for, but if you're interested in it, go ahead and e-mail me to say you want it; I'm planning to start another round of cuttings shortly, plus people do sometimes change their mind or whatever.

024B "Bryce Canyon"Colors (petals / tube): light orange / white; yellow-orange / whiteBloom Frequency: crazy fastComments: I forgot that I'd already taken cuttings of "Bryce Canyon" and took another batch, so there are four sets available, meaning that if you ask for it, you're likely to get it. Does drop a lot of buds, but it starts out with so many that it still winds up producing more flowers than any of the others.

025A "Clownfish"Colors (petals / tube): dark orange / whiteBloom Frequency: slowComments: Earliest to bloom, and still seems to be the least picky about getting absolute darkness at night, but for all that, it doesn't produce very many flowers. Reason is unknown. 023A "Stoked" looks a lot the same but blooms much better.

026A "Brick Wall"Colors (petals / tube): orange / white; pink-orange / whiteBloom Frequency: mediumComments: Probably my overall favorite orange from the group; it doesn't come across in the photos at all, but there's a weird softness to the color that I find very appealing, and the flowers practically glow at certain times of day. I mean, they all do this to some degree or another (golden hour + orange bloom = glowy), but "Brick Wall" regularly stops me in my tracks. It's the weirdest thing.

027A "Kiln"
ALL POTS OF 027A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015Colors (petals / tube): orange / white, slightly lighter orange / whiteBloom Frequency: mediumComments: Always has that whee-I'm-in-a-wind-tunnel look happening, more so than most of the other seedlings.

030A "Diwali"Colors (petals / tube): orange / pink Bloom Frequency: slowComments: I can't remember how many blooms I've gotten since this photo of the first one, but it/they also had the same screwy not-fully-opened thing going. So this might just be the way it grows.

057A "Pyrotechnic"Colors (petals / tube): pink-orange / white; ages to orange-pink / whiteBloom Frequency: mediumComments: Another one I really like, probably based on the color being pinker than most. Fairly substantial color change from orange to orange-pink as the blooms age, which may or may not appeal to you but is at least interesting.

061A "Leather Fairy"
ALL POTS OF 061A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015Colors (petals / tube): light orange / whiteBloom Frequency: slowComments: Looks an awful lot like the NOID peach that I think was the pollen parent, and I think has only produced one flower to date, but the cuttings rooted like champs so at least the plant is fairly vigorous? I mean, this is definitely the one to get if you're big into stems.

064A "Rose Hoses"
ALL POTS OF 064A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015Colors (petals / tube): red-orange / pinkBloom Frequency: mediumComments: Something about "Rose Hoses" that I don't like, but I haven't been able to figure out what. All the individual parts seem fine; I just don't like the way they come together, or something. Probably the seedling closest in appearance to 'Caribbean Dancer,' the seed parent, of the plants currently available.

078A "Art Party"Colors (petals / tube): red / pinkBloom Frequency: slowComments: I like "Art Party" so much that I may decide that I don't want to sell it after all, so be prepared for that. (No particular reason to like it that much, except that it's not orange.) There's only one set of cuttings available, and the original plant has only produced one flower so far.

088A "Cyborg Unicorn"
ALL POTS OF 088A HAVE BEEN CLAIMED AS OF 29 APRIL 2015; MORE CUTTINGS HAVE BEEN TAKEN AND SHOULD BE READY IN JULYColors (petals / tube): orange / pinkBloom Frequency: fastComments: Although the flower in the top two images looks different from the flower in the bottom two, I think both blooms are in fact from the same seedling. The suspected pollen parent varies between normal blooms and really streaky blooms too, and I know it's all the same plant. (Update 24 April 2015: I noticed a day or two ago that 'Caribbean Dancer' is prone to the occasional streaky bloom as well. Maybe it's just a normal Schlumbergera thing.) All pots of cuttings are presently spoken for, but as with 023A "Stoked," I encourage you to e-mail anyway if you're interested in it because there will be more sooner or later.

Might never be offered through the blog because I'm interested in trying to patent it, maybe, if it ever blooms again, which I'm starting to think it never will:083A "Psychedelic Bunny"

(The Anthuriums are a different situation entirely; I haven't even begun to try to decide which ones to sell. I can barely keep up with which ones are blooming at the moment. Maybe by the end of the summer?)

I'm fine with sending cuttings out that haven't produced new growth above the soil line if you tell me you're okay with it. I don't think cuttings that haven't produced new growth are likely to die or anything; this is more just to assure myself that they're healthy and established and whatever before I start distributing them. 3 (mrsubjunctiveX@outlook.com, without the "X")4 Numbers are very limited for most of these, because you can only take just so many cuttings off of a small plant before you no longer have a plant. 5 And I'll still let you know which one before I mail anything, in case you realize that you have a violent hatred of "Sofa Fort" that you weren't aware of before, or whatever.6 Bloom frequency is based just on what I've seen so far. This only covers a six-month period, plus they were up-potted at different times and were different ages, so the bloom frequency I've observed may or may not reflect what it will do for you in your home. Take it into account, but don't weigh it too heavily.

If it would just bloom again, there's a chance that it wouldn't be unavailable forever. But no. It did produce one tiny bud recently (within the last few weeks), but then dropped it right away. I don't know what it wants me to do.

I mean, I wouldn't say I'm sad about it. But I'm at least frustrated by it.

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